The Morning Warning List · 26 October 2026
Homeplus
On 13 July 2026, for the first time in its history, every Homeplus store in South Korea closed at once. Outside one Seoul store, a line of shopping carts more than 100 metres long blocked the entrance. So how did a chain that sold its own stores end up unable to open them?
Big supermarkets, for South Korea.
Homeplus runs large supermarkets in South Korea. Samsung opened the first one in Daegu in 1997, on the site of an old textile factory. The private equity firm MBK Partners bought the chain from Tesco in 2015 for about 7.2 trillion won.
One plan since 2025: find a buyer.
Since it asked a court for help in March 2025, Homeplus has tried to sell itself. The court has kept it alive while it looks.
- Find a buyer for the business in an open auctionHomeplus and the court, 2025No final bids, Nov 2025
- A rehabilitation plan, with 19 closed properties sold by February 2028Approved by the Seoul Bankruptcy Court, 2 Sep 2026Open
- Letters of intent due end-October
Ultimately, I believe this can only be resolved if the sale proceeds as planned.
Joh Ju-yeon, chief executive, parliamentary audit, 12 Oct 2026 (translated from Korean)
One minute read. Four to go.
Will anyone offer to buy Homeplus by 31 October?
- Survivor
- At least one buyer makes an offer for its stores, head office or online shop by 31 Oct.
- Write-off
- Nobody makes an offer by then.
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- What happens to Homeplus next, as it happens
The BANKRUPT Test · Question 18 of 19
Has your company sold buildings it still uses, to pay off debt?
This question is about your company, not Homeplus.
Your answer stays on this screen. The advice opens free when you join the Morning Warning List.
- In your company
- If your company plans to sell a building it still uses, ask for the rent schedule beside the sale price. Ask what share of a bad year’s profit that rent would take. If it is more than you could pay in your worst recent year, ask for a smaller sale or a shorter lease.
- In your investments
- Before you put money in a retailer, read the note on leases in its accounts: how much rent it has committed to, and for how long. Compare that with its profit before rent. Check whether past asset sales paid debt down, or only moved it into leases.
- In your career
- If you are asked to sign off a sale and leaseback, insist on seeing the full rent bill over the lease, not just the price. Say so in writing if the stores cannot carry it. If you already signed one, work now on the leases you can renegotiate, before the next bad year does it for you.
— Max Noble
Take the short test, 2 minutes →The full chapter is in the book →
So why is Homeplus on the world list?
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- Eight years of profit turning to loss, in one chart
- What happens when you sell the stores you trade in
- Three moves before the bids arrive
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Free. No noise. One reply is enough to leave the list. Not investment advice.
The stores were sold. The rent stayed.
MBK paid for Homeplus partly with borrowed money: about 2.7 trillion won of loans, the Korea Times reports.
From 2016 Homeplus sold stores and logistics centres to pay debt down. By 2024 it had sold 28 of them for about 4.1 trillion won, the Kyunghyang Shinmun reports.
Many of the stores it kept trading in were sold and leased back: 68 in all, the Korea Herald reports. Each sale brought cash once. Each lease brought a bill every month.
By 2023, rent and interest needed about 600 billion won a year, Korea Ratings estimated. The business earned about 321 billion won before those costs.
In the year to February 2018 it made an operating profit of about 260 billion won. In the year to February 2025 it lost about 546 billion won.
Profit or loss from operations, billion won (years to February)
Homeplus hypermarkets
A rating cut, a court, and quiet aisles.
On 28 February 2025 a rating agency cut the grade on Homeplus’s short-term debt from A3 to A3-. Four days later, on 4 March, it asked the Seoul Bankruptcy Court for rehabilitation. The court approved the filing the same day.
An open auction in 2025 drew two letters of intent but no final bids.
In 2026 it sold its Homeplus Express supermarkets to NS Home Shopping for about 120 billion won. In July the court ended the rehabilitation for lack of operating funds, and on 13 July all 67 stores closed.
An emergency loan of 200 billion won from Meritz followed. The court reversed its decision, the stores reopened on 13 August, and on 2 September the court approved the plan.
Rent is the one bill that never shrinks with the sales.
Shoppers have been slow to return. In early October sales were about 30% of target, the Financial News reports.
Suppliers now want cash. “We can now only operate on advance payment and cash, which severely limits sales growth,” its chief executive told a parliamentary audit on 12 October.
Samil PwC has sent the sale offer to about 50 possible buyers, for the whole company or in parts. Two big retailers, Hyundai Department Store and GS Retail, have said they are not interested, the Korea Times reports.
Letters of intent are due by the end of October. If no buyer appears, a break-up sale could be an alternative, a Homeplus official said.
How Homeplus reached the auction
Three moves before the bids arrive.
Fill the shelves where the crowds still come.
Sales at 30% of target will not attract a buyer. Stock the busiest stores first, with whatever cash the court allows.
Sell what a buyer will pay for.
If nobody wants all 67 stores, a sale in parts keeps more of them open than waiting does.
Show suppliers the cash plan every week.
Suppliers who are paid on time are the cheapest lenders a shop has. Trust comes back one delivery at a time.
Count the Rent Before You Sell the Store
Daegu, 1997. On the site of an old textile factory, Samsung opened a vast new supermarket and called it Homeplus. In its first full year it took more than 200 billion won. In 2015 a buyout firm paid about 7.2 trillion won for the chain, about 2.7 trillion of it borrowed. To pay the loans down, Homeplus sold its stores and rented them back, 68 of them in all. Each sale brought cash once. Each lease sent a bill every month. By 2023 rent and interest needed about 600 billion won a year, and the stores earned about half of that. A landlord, unlike a customer, never skips a month. Count the rent before you sell the store. The cash arrives once; the rent stays.
— Max Noble
Homeplus sold 68 of the stores it traded in and rented them back, and the rent outgrew what the stores could earn.
From the book in preparationThe 42 Laws of BANKRUPT · the 2027 edition, out 31 OctoberRead every law so far →
The BANKRUPT Test · Question 18 of 19
Has your company sold buildings it still uses, to pay off debt?
This question is about your company, not Homeplus.
- In your company
- If your company plans to sell a building it still uses, ask for the rent schedule beside the sale price. Ask what share of a bad year’s profit that rent would take. If it is more than you could pay in your worst recent year, ask for a smaller sale or a shorter lease.
- In your investments
- Before you put money in a retailer, read the note on leases in its accounts: how much rent it has committed to, and for how long. Compare that with its profit before rent. Check whether past asset sales paid debt down, or only moved it into leases.
- In your career
- If you are asked to sign off a sale and leaseback, insist on seeing the full rent bill over the lease, not just the price. Say so in writing if the stores cannot carry it. If you already signed one, work now on the leases you can renegotiate, before the next bad year does it for you.
— Max Noble
Take the short test, 2 minutes →The full chapter is in the book →
Every number traceable.
- Maeil Shinmun, Jul 2026: first store in Daegu, 1997, on the old Cheil Industries factory site; more than 200 billion won in 1998 · imaeil.com
- Hankyung, 13 Jul 2026: all 67 stores shut at once; line of carts more than 100 metres at Yeongdeungpo; 140 stores at end-2019; rent burden · hankyung.com
- Korea Times, 6 Mar 2025: MBK bought Homeplus in 2015 for 7.2 trillion won, about 2.7 trillion in acquisition loans · koreatimes.co.kr
- Korea Times, 4 Mar 2025: rehabilitation filing approved the same day · koreatimes.co.kr
- Korea JoongAng Daily, Mar 2025: short-term debt rating cut to A3-, then rehabilitation · koreajoongangdaily.com
- Kyunghyang Shinmun, 6 Jul 2026: 28 stores and logistics centres sold for 4.1149 trillion won; Korea Ratings: EBITDA 321.4bn won in 2023 against about 600bn needed for rent and interest · khan.co.kr
- Korea Herald (Herald Biz), 2026: 68 stores sold and leased back; operating profit and loss 2018–2025; 67 stores · biz.heraldcorp.com
- Aju Press, 31 Oct 2025: two letters of intent in the open auction · ajupress.com
- Youth Daily, Nov 2025: no final bids · youthdaily.co.kr
- Herald Biz, Sep 2026: Express sold to NS Home Shopping for 120.6bn won; Samil PwC sale of 67 stores; 19 closed properties by Feb 2028 · biz.heraldcorp.com
- MTN, 20 Jul 2026: court ends the rehabilitation for lack of operating funds; Homeplus appeals · news.mtn.co.kr
- Herald Biz, Aug 2026: stores reopen on 13 August · biz.heraldcorp.com
- Korea Herald, 2 Sep 2026: court approves the rehabilitation plan · koreaherald.com
- Newspim, 18 Sep 2026: 104 hypermarkets in spring 2026 · newspim.com
- Financial News, 18 Oct 2026: sales about 30% of target in early October · fnnews.com
- SBS Biz, 12 Oct 2026: chief executive Joh Ju-yeon at the parliamentary audit · biz.sbs.co.kr
- Korea Times, 20 Oct 2026: buyer search stalls; Hyundai Department Store and GS Retail deny interest · koreatimes.co.kr
- Kyunghyang Shinmun, 11 Oct 2026: a break-up sale could be an alternative · khan.co.kr
- Financial News (English), 11 Oct 2026: teasers sent to about 50 possible buyers · en.fnnews.com
Homeplus is in court-led rehabilitation; its plan was approved on 2 September 2026. Figures are from Korean press reports of company filings. The three moves and the law are Max Noble’s analysis. Not investment advice.
Your turn. Does Homeplus survive?
5 days until the 31 October deadline. Make your call, beat the other players, and climb the board.
You are the CEO. What do you do first?
Pick one, then see what the other players chose and which move I would make.
The read-the-story quiz
Three points for each right answer. Your first answer counts.
Count the Rent Before You Sell the Store
The same mistake, in your own world. Free, from the book.
- In your company
- If your company plans to sell a building it still uses, ask for the rent schedule beside the sale price. Ask what share of a bad year’s profit that rent would take. If it is more than you could pay in your worst recent year, ask for a smaller sale or a shorter lease.
- In your investments
- Before you put money in a retailer, read the note on leases in its accounts: how much rent it has committed to, and for how long. Compare that with its profit before rent. Check whether past asset sales paid debt down, or only moved it into leases.
- In your career
- If you are asked to sign off a sale and leaseback, insist on seeing the full rent bill over the lease, not just the price. Say so in writing if the stores cannot carry it. If you already signed one, work now on the leases you can renegotiate, before the next bad year does it for you.